Field of the Invention
This specification relates to a terminal fitting.
Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-297470 discloses a female terminal fitting with a resilient contact piece. This female terminal fitting includes a body in the form of a rectangular tube capable of receiving a tab of a mating male terminal fitting and a resilient contact piece in the form of a leaf spring formed by folding a tongue projecting from the front end of the bottom wall of the body rearwardly. On the other hand, a receiving portion bulging toward the resilient contact piece is provided on a wall of the body facing the resilient contact piece. The female terminal fitting and the male terminal fitting are connected electrically by sandwiching and holding the tab by the resilient contact piece and the receiving portion.
The terminal fitting as described above is manufactured by bending a terminal fitting obtained by stamping a metal plate material into a predetermined shape.
In the female terminal fitting described above, Ag plating is applied to surfaces of the resilient contact piece and the receiving portion to be contacted by the tab for the purpose of reducing contact resistance.
However, in the terminal fitting configured as described above (an example is shown as a terminal fitting 100 in FIG. 6), areas to be plated are distributed on both front and back surfaces in a developed state of this terminal fitting 100 (state of a terminal fitting piece 152 before processing). Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, an area to be Ag-plated is present only on one surface (front surface in FIG. 8) out of both front and back surfaces on a part that will become a resilient contact piece 116 (resilient fragment piece 154), whereas areas to be Ag-plated are present on the other surface (front surface in FIG. 7) on receiving portions 119. Thus, a plating process is complicated, thereby presenting a problem of increasing manufacturing cost.